Stubborn Idiot
[Edmund PevensiexF!Reader] [One-Shot]
Warning: Language
"We're going to need more men."
"A lot of good that's gonna do us when we're up against giants."
"Then what do you propose, oh high and mighty, all-knowing pain in my ass?"
"Stealth. We can't go up against an enemy way bigger and stronger than ourselves with just brute force and manpower, your obnoxiously annoying highness."
"A lot of good that's gonna do us when we're stealthy enough to get our butts crushed under a giant's foot. In your case though, it might just be an improvement."
"So you think my ass needs improvement, huh? To know that, you oughta have been staring at it - again."
"S-Shut up!"
"Oh what's the matter? There's nothing wrong with being a Peeping Tom, now is there?"
"Tch, you're one to talk Miss 'I couldn't stare at his abs during training more shamelessly if I tried'."
Peter groaned in annoyance. Here they went again. If he didn't break them up now, they'd never get anywhere with this council. He was just glad that it happened now and not during another ball. Seeing a king and a commander act like bratty 5-year-olds towards each other was not exactly a boost for the view the outside world had on the reigning power in Narnia.
His brother was normally quite calm and collected, making good and rationalized decisions, on the battlefield as well as in the courtroom and even during something as petty as Lucy stealing Susan's make-up again. He wasn't given the title 'The Just' for nothing. Nonetheless there was something about this girl in particular that got under his skin - badly.
(y/n) was a human girl, having stumbled into Narnia similar to the way the Pevensies themselves had ended up here, just a few (Narnian) years prior. She had been hidden from the White Witch by a family of foxes. But when she heard about the prophesied children finally arriving in Narnia, she rushed to their's and Aslan's help immediately. And even with her 13 years of age she proved herself an amazing and capable soldier. After the battle of Beruna it didn't take her long to become commander of the Narnian army, along with Oreius. Not only that, but she'd become a close friend of the siblings as well; they considered her family. Well, almost everyone did.
While her and Edmund had never gotten along well to begin with, it escalated when they both hit their teenage years. They were both stubborn, determined, caring and smart - and most of the time had completely opposing views on how to handle... well, basically everything. A classic case of she says yes, he says no; she says right, he says left and so on. Paired with the sexual tension between them - that everybody except them seemed to notice - it was the perfect recipe for a catastrophe. Now here they were, 5 years later, supposedly responsible adults - or at the very least responsible teens - yet they still shouted at each other like bratty little children. The only thing that had changed were their insults - by the lion, had they become colorful; those two could be quite creative in that department.
"At least I'm not stupid enough to stab myself with my own sword!"
"And who's fault was that, Mister 'I trip over my own two feet and take everything and everyone around down with me'?!"
"ENOUGH!"
The entire room went silent. The High King let out an irritated growl while pinching the bridge of his nose.
"You two do know that this is supposed to be a war council, right?"
"I'd say they're waging war on each other quite brilliantly, wouldn't you?"
"You're not helping, Lu."
Peter sighed.
"Listen, either you save your childish bickering for later and focus on the task at hand or you get out and let the grown-ups handle this."
Edmund and (y/n) send each other another menacing glare before taking their seats again, (y/n) grumbling something under her breath that sounded an awful lot like: 'the idiot started it...'
Peter just thanked Aslan that Edmund hadn't heard her.
An hour later the council was declared closed with a strategy developed that would hopefully gain them victory over the advancing giants of the North. Thankfully, it went smoothly - if you overlooked the tiny incident of Edmund calling (y/n) an 'incompetent klutz that is stupid enough to cut her hand open on an old, hardened piece of bread' [A/N: No joke, this happened to a friend of mine] and her trying to climb over the table to strangle him for bringing that up again. In short, everyone was glad it was over, mostly because everyone was looking forward to dinner. Well, almost everyone.
"You wouldn't know the difference between a sword and a cutlass even if someone stabbed you trough the gut with both - then again, I'd be more than willing to test that theory!" the young commander shouted.
"That's rich coming from you, fox-girl, how long did it take you to figure out that the helmet is the part of the armor that's meant for your head, not your butt?!" the Just King shot back.
"And there we go again with my butt; sure seems to be you favorite topic, hm?" she immediately retorted, none of them missing a beat in their banter as they entered the dining hall.
Lucy groaned and rested her head on the table.
"Don't they ever take a break?"
Peter send her an amused look.
"Weren't you the one entertaining yourself with their fighting earlier?"
"But this is getting ridiculous! As soon as they step into the same room they waste every breath arguing with each other. And it's been getting worse lately..."
"She's quite right." Susan chimed in. "All the energy they spend bickering and not agreeing with each other might as well be put into something useful."
"And what would that be?" Peter asked.
Susan shrugged. "No idea. But anything's better than this."
She motioned at the two, who'd taken their seats across from each other and were still spatting insults at one another.
Peter face palmed before muttering: "Maybe finally accepting that they only argue this much because they're in love with each other would help..."
Unfortunately for him, he'd forgotten about (y/n) having a hearing like a bat. In the midst of throwing another nasty comment his brother's way she fell silent and turned her glare towards him.
"What was that, Pete?"
His blue eyes widened and he gulped. When the (h/c) haired girl got seriously angry you knew you should steer clear.
"Nothing! Don't mind me, I'm just randomly thinking out loud..."
"He said that it was time for the two of you to finally get over yourselves and accept that the only reason why you bicker this much is because you're in love with each other." Lucy stated loud and clear.
"Lu, where exactly do you think you're going with this?" Peter whispered.
"They weren't getting there themselves, they needed a little push." she answered.
"Are you out o-" Susan began, but was interrupted by the sound of the legs of a chair scraping loudly against the marble floor. Both (y/n) and Edmund had shot up from their seats, glaring at the three people in front of them.
"In love?! With her/him?!" they shouted at the same time.
"What in all of Narnia makes you think I'm in love with this idiot?!" (y/n) shrieked, her expression caught somewhere between angry and horrified. She could've looked quite terrifying at that moment - if not for the bright pink blush spreading across her cheeks.
"Have all of you gone insane?! What in the name of Aslan would make me fall for this moron?!" Edmund shouted, looking about ready to strangle all of his three siblings if it would make them shut up about the topic that made even the tips of his ears turn red.
"You're actually agreeing with each other on this particular topic. That's a start." Susan stated matter of factly, making the two idiots shut up and stare at her dumbfounded.
The next second, she already wished she'd kept quiet, as king and commander turned towards one another again to continue their never-ending fight.
"Now listen here, and listen well, cause I'm only going to say this once and I know you're not the sharpest tool in the shed" Edmund started, making (y/n) grit her teeth in anger.
"There's no way in the world, be it this one or any other, that I'd ever fall for a klutzy, stubborn, incompetent, moronic, bratty, obnoxious, annoying bitch like you!"
(y/n) clenched her fists so hard, her knuckles started to turn white.
"So? You think I give a shit about you or your opinion of me?" she growled. "Guess what, smartass, I don't. And what about you? You're telling me you consider yourself the fucking jackpot? Who'd ever have an interest in a stubborn, brooding, immature, moody dickhead who betrayed his family for his own personal gain?! Certainly not me!"
You could've heard a pin drop in the silence that followed.
(y/n)'s (e/c) eyes widened with horrible realization.
Shit.
"E-Edmund I... I didn't... I-I swear I... I'm so sorry, Ed; I..."
Before she could even try to stutter out a half decent apology, Edmund had turned on his heel and left the dining hall without another word, the slam of the door echoing throughout the big room.
The young girl let herself fall back into her chair and covered her face with her hands.
'Wow...' she thought. 'You really messed up this time...'
It had been an eerily silent week at the castle of Cair Paravel. The buzzing of the normal castle life was still heard, yet two voices that normally never shut up had gone quiet.
(y/n) had tried to talk to the young king so many times, she'd lost count. She tried apologizing, a normal conversation, she even tried to provoke him into another fight with her. But he wouldn't have any of it. If he didn't flat out ignore her, his answers were always short, to the point and laced with a cold undertone that felt like a stab to the gut (more like a stab to the heart, but even now she'd never admit that to herself) every time she had to hear him use it with her. After this week of pointless tries she decided to give up. Edmund was just as stubborn as her, maybe even more so, and if he'd decided to scratch her out of his life there was precious little she could do.
(y/n) had settled herself underneath her favorite tree in the gardens of Cair Paravel - a weeping willow. A gentle breeze rustled the leaves of the majestic tree and the girl's (h/c) (h/l) hair. She'd grabbed a book out of the immense library of the castle and was reading. At least she was trying to. But no matter how much she focused on the text in front of her, her mind (nor her heart) were in it.
Did he really hate her now? Oh by the lion, what would she do if he truly did? She'd never meant to say that horrible thing. She'd regretted it the second the words left her lips. She knew better. She knew to never bring that subject up. She knew how much his past mistakes still haunted him. How often had she found him down in the kitchen with a cup of tea because he couldn't sleep? And how often had she sat with him until after sunrise, simply talking about anything that came to mind to soothe both of their nerves. It was basically the only time when they weren't at each other's throats. She'd once considered telling the rest of the Pevensies about those meetings, just so they would shut up about them only being able to converse by shouting insults, but she'd thought better of it. Those meetings, those moments, those conversations; they were... special. She wasn't sure why but she didn't want to share them with anyone. At that time, her and Edmund weren't 'enemies' or king and commander or anything of the sort - they were two tired soldiers who'd already seen too much for their young age. What they needed during these moments was a friend, a shoulder to lean on. And for a short amount of time they became exactly that for one another. They talked about their nightmares, the upcoming battles, their families; they cracked crappy jokes that had the other one choking on their tea most of the time.
Man, that guy's laugh. He didn't smile or laugh as often as (y/n) would like him to, but when he did - that sure was something. His brown eyes lit up and started to sparkle. And his laugh was utterly infectious; you just couldn't help but laugh along with him.
(y/n) felt her cheeks go warm and buried her face in her book. Maybe the others weren't so wrong. Maybe she really was -
"Hey."
Her thoughts were interrupted and her head shot up at hearing the one voice she'd missed the entire last week.
"H-Hey..."
"Peter needs you to run over the strategies with him again and wanted me to get you. He's waiting in the great hall."
"Oh... Alright..." she said while getting up, feeling a bit (seriously) disappointed by the fact that he hadn't come to try and make up with her.
"Um... Anything else?"
"No." he simply said and vanished back through the leaves he'd previously stepped through before she could ask anything else.
"H-Hey, wait up!" she called and ran after him, nearly colliding with his back when she stumbled out of the curtain of leaves.
He swiftly turned around and looked at her with a cold glare.
"What is it?"
She gulped at the look she was receiving.
"I-I... C-Could we m-maybe...
"Spit it out already, I don't have all day and neither do you."
"It's just... Could we maybe talk for a minute?"
"About what?"
Ok, he was seriously testing her patience here. She wanted to apologize, she wanted him to forgive her, but he wasn't exactly making it easy. And if the intimidated, shy, little klutz didn't work, she'd just resort back to her old methods. She straightened her back, almost making them eye-level with each other, and returned his look with a fierce glare of her own.
"You know damn well about what."
"Do I now?"
"Yes! For all its worth, do you really have to make it that hard for me?!"
"Make what hard for you?"
And that was the point when her patience ran out.
"Are you serious?! I've been running after you for a week now! All you've been doing is ignore me or send hateful glares my way! Listen, I get it! I overstepped a line, I know that! But I swear I didn't mean to! I didn't mean what I said either! I never meant to hurt you like that; I'd never want to!
If you hate me now I'll understand that, I'll -"
She paused to swallow the lump forming in her throat, her voice unknowingly growing smaller and strained.
"-I can and I will accept that. But if that's the case would you at least tell me? Cause this uncertainty is driving me insane! I-I just wanna..."
At this point the tears she'd tried to hold back for the entire last week started to roll down her cheeks freely, her now blurry vision preventing her from seeing the shocked and pained look on Edmund's face.
"I just wanna know if I lost my best friend for good, ok?! For fuck's sake Ed, I just -"
She didn't get any further than that. Instead of interrupting her with one of his usual rude comments, Edmund opted for a different method this time.
He kissed her.
In return, she pulled back and slapped him straight across the face.
Both teenagers froze in their positions, completely stunned.
'Wait...' (y/n) thought.
'D-Did he just...?'
'A-And did I...?'
'Wrong reaction, you moron.'
her brain retorted. 'When the guy you like kisses you, you kiss back, you do NOT slap him.'
For once she actually listened to what her brain had to say while being around the dark haired king - wow, this really was a day of firsts.
Before she could think better of it, she grabbed Edmund's shirt, pulled him down to her level and pressed her lips against his once more.
Edmund reacted quickly and cupped her face with both of his hands, gently wiping away her remaining tears while kissing her back.
They stayed like this for a while, relishing in the warmth, affection and closeness of their counterpart. When they pulled away, both of them were breathless.
"Wow..." (y/n) whispered, but before she could say anything else she earned a gentle flick to the forehead.
"Ouch! Hey! What was tha-"
"You're such a moron." Edmund answered before she could even finish her question.
"I could never hate you." he said with a lopsided smile that made her heart skip a beat.
"I just... I avoided you the last week cause... Well, I thought you actually meant what you said. You're one of the few persons whose opinion about me I actually care about and when you said that I thought that you'd finally reached the point of seeing me as only that: a sorry treacherous excuse for a human being. And getting close to you with that in mind was impossible for me, so I -"
Next thing he knew, she'd drop-kicked him and had him pinned to the ground.
"Wha-What the-?!"
"You're the idiot here. So you made some mistakes. You made up for them, didn't you? It's alright. I could never think of you that way and anyone who dares to do so will have to deal with me." she said confidently before releasing his arms and resting her head on his chest, listening to his heartbeat.
"So, I take it the whole 'I'd never have an interest in a stubborn, brooding, immature, moody dickhead' thing wasn't entirely true then, was it?" he asked with a smirk, making her blush.
"Maybe..." she mumbled into his chest. "And what about you? Let me quote: 'There's no way in the world, be it this one or any other, that I'd ever fall for a klutzy, stubborn, incompetent, moronic, bratty, obnoxious, annoying bitch like you!'
That wasn't the truth either, hm?"
"Maybe..." he murmured and wrapped his arms around her waist.
"Hey... the kiss wasn't... bad or anything, was it...?"
She furrowed her brows and looked at him, nearly starting to giggle at the bright blush on his face.
"I... Uh, n-no, it... it was great. Why?"
"Because it maybe, totally, probably, absolutely might've been my first one."
She smiled.
"At least we're on even terms then."
"But you know, technically, there were two kisses. So that means I got your first and second kiss."
"No you didn't. First time you kissed me I didn't kiss back, I slapped you; it doesn't count."
"Does too."
"Does not."
"Does too."
"Does not."
"Does too."
"You're such a stubborn idiot..." she sighed in annoyance.
"Hmm, true. But now" he said and kissed the top of her head, making her smile. "I'm your stubborn idiot."